Tremble All You Want

A romantic comedy that's quirky and quite touching, touching on themes of introversion, unrequited love, and the conversations we have within our minds while trying to find a partner and our path in life. The premise is straightforward; an awkward young woman with a thing for extinct animals has been carrying a torch for a guy for ten years, since middle school, and meanwhile she's pursued by a dorky guy from her office. The first half of it is entertaining though pretty light and frothy, but the second half has a really nice twist that gives it real depth. Mayu Matsuoka (who was also in Shoplifters) plays the young woman and aside from making her character so endearing, has several fantastic scenes, conveying grief especially well. It's a beautiful film with lots of unconventional moments (Amélie came to mind), and Director Akiko Ohku makes use of light and reflections in lovely ways. Very well done, a near miss for an even higher rating.

The girl is stuck on her high school crush from ten years ago. She still dreams of him and constantly talks about him, but hasn't seen him since. A new guy comes along and wants to be her boyfriend, but she can't make up her mind whether to move on and give up her love for the man from the past or not. It's charming at first, but then it gets a bit annoying. First of all, her new love interest is such a goofy guy, it makes no sense that she even considers him, and they very clearly have zero chemistry too. The girl also has some serious manic-depressive episodes almost, to a point where you go from finding her quirky in a cute way to legitimately crazy. The ending is not satisfying either.

Yoshiko is a shy office girl who - as we slowly realise - is even more shy than we think. She has vivid conversations with a lady on her bus to work, a local elderly fisherman, a guy in her 7-11 - but all these conversations are in her head, she has only one real friend, the girl who sits next to her in the office. Yoshiko's life is paralysed by her love for 'ichi' (one), the cool guy in her school she's been obsessed with for a decade. The problem is, Ichi was scarcely even aware she existed. Likewise, she is only vaguely aware of the doofus guy in her office (conveniently nicknamed 'ni' (two) who is clumsily trying to persuade her to be his girlfriend. After a near fatal accident, Yoshiko determines to do what it takes to engineer a meeting with ichi to find out if she can really make him love her.

This whimsical, witty and occasional surreal character study focuses entirely on Yoshiko, brilliantly played by Mayu Matsuoko, who was equally striking in last years Kore-eda film 'Shoplifters'. We see everything through this very unreliable narrators eyes. The film is ably directed by Akiko Ohku, but it is definitely overlong, it could have been trimmed by 20 minutes with no loss. The whole film is a very slight edifice, with its low budget frequently showing, but Matsuoko holds the screen in every scene so it never outstays its welcome.

...sometimes I check the critics notes and see that mostly are "pop corn eaters" I mean, they cannot get it all the stuff going on in some movies like this. First, the director did a great job. Very freshly work with the camera without being pretentious. The right mix between artsy, technical and indie. With Grey/Blueish matte palette is showing the mood of the story; one that evolves whenever the plot is developing. What in first instance looks like a comedy suddenly transform as a drama; a very common one I must add. Not only about a love or obsession (for a person that had only few dialogs interchanges with the crush...) but more of those worlds that are in our minds and the interaction with the real people outside and beyond ourselves. Those mental barriers that some persons have making difficult relationships and communication in general. Even worse now with all these "social net crap" flooding and consuming great percentages of people time and mind. Yes, a great fortress (around your mind and heart); you can be safe there but what happens in the real life? Is not the internet real now? I am afraid not. -Great development of the story where you can see what mental process (do not forget the camera work in this process) the main character is doing to "wake up" to a new (might be) comfortable new life; a life where some one have a feeling for you and that s not a little thing in this time where mostly walk like mutants and only block down their barriers when they are alone (with loneliness most of the times) in their homes

This is quite the rom-com. I may not have expected it to be my kind of movie, but I definitely enjoyed every moment of its evolving plot, silly main character, and unexpected humor. Unlike other movies of the genre, Tremble All You Want sends a beneficial and realistic message to its audience.

I really like the way characters are allowed to have more to themselves than just what is presented upfront. It's as if they were given depth as opposed to sudden realizations or changes in personality.

One character isn't all good (your ethics may vary), another isn't too bad, and a third turns out... unexpected. There's so much that plays out in this, and I'm feeling unable to explain any of it without spoilers.

There's a scene where a truth is revealed in a creative way. There's another where, let's just say, life unexpectedly takes the wheel. There's that word again: "unexpected". I think it best sums up this movie.

Give it a shot; have a laugh; warm your heart.